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Flyers enjoy offensive explosion in 6-2 win over Golden Knights

Posted on by Mike Dusak

The Flyers grabbed an early power play thanks to the work of Claude Giroux and bah gawd is that Joel Farabee’s music? It was, and he was out there with the first unit, but another youngster would steal the spotlight.

Taking on the excellent Golden Knights penalty kill, it was the Flyers taking this battle as Travis Konecny zipped one past Oscar Dansk to make it 1-0 just 4:15 into the frame.

That’s hot, and so is TK with his fourth goal of the season from Oskar Lindblom and Shayne Gostisbehere.

Ryan Reaves — still a thing, by the way — would put the Flyers right back on the power play by dumping Ghost behind Brian Elliott. They wouldn’t score, but they did allow some solid chances on Elliott afterwards but the veteran was up to the challenge, looking smooth on Jonathan Marchessault here to preserve the lead.

A late flurry from the Flyers sure turned up the pressure on the Knights, but they were unable to push another past Dansk as they carried a 1-0 lead to intermission.

After the Flyers surged to close the first, the Knights responded with a fast start in the second to tilt the ice towards Elliott. Problem was that Elliott was on his game, denying William Karlsson on a point-blank redirect to keep the sheet clean.

Mark that save down as the Flyers would pick up their goaltender at the other end and supply him with a 2-0 lead. Kevin Hayes did the honors, putting a slick backhander through the five-hold of Dansk for his second goal of the season.

But. They’re. Not. Done. Scoring. Yet.

Ivan Provorov let one go towards the Knights’ net and it bounced off a couple sticks before beating Dansk to make it 3-0 Flyers. Credit the nice work of the recently called up Mikhail Vorobyev, who kept the cycle going before Provorov’s seeing-eye shot.

Scary moment as Brayden McNabb (talk about already not a fan favorite in Philadelphia) boarded TK along the wall, resulting in a Flyers power play and an all-time chirp with the forward calling McNabb a “f****** bonehead” as picked up by NBCSP’s audio.

On the ensuing power play the Flyers would add goal to insult, with Matt Niskanen blasting a one-timer past Dansk to make it 4-0 with less than six minutes left in the second. In an attempt to outscore the Eagles’ output from Sunday night, Lindblom would finish off a pretty give-and-go to push the lead to 5-0 as the Flyers were just toying with a Stanley Cup contender inside the WFC.

Never. Stop. Scoring.

Mercy that was a fun period. Funnest 20 minutes in a long, long, time.

Less fun? The Flyers giving Vegas a two-man advantage 2:01 into the third to give them a chance to work on that five-goal deficit. They would take advantage with Marchessault finding the net to make it 5-1, and time left on the power play but only a man up.

Reilly Smith would get another back, depositing a breakaway chance through Elliott’s legs to bring the Knights to within three at 5-2 with 6:50 left.

That would be the closest the visitors would get, though, as Michael Raffl would provide the exclamation point with a beautiful backhand goal to push lead to 6-2.

Heck of a move from Raffl, leaving Dansk no chance and leaving the Knights with a parting gift for their visit to the City of Brotherly Love.

Three stars

1. Brian Elliott

What a night for Elliott, who made big stop after big stop as the Flyers allowed their fare share of scoring chances but the veteran was there to shut the door to the tune of 33 saves on 35 shots. Elliott wasn’t sharp last time out, but couldn’t have been sharper in this one, and was a big reason the Flyers returned to the win column.

2. Michael Raffl

The bottom-six cog was credited for a while with two goals, but even if he gets dropped down to one, it was a strong showing from No. 12 in your programs. Raffl can do it all, and showed the finishing ability on his slick third period tally.

3. Ivan Provorov

Provy was really good and had some tough assignments against a good Golden Knights team. Played well in all situations and helped keep down a high-flying Vegas offense while only trailing Niskanen in terms of ice time.

GIF of the Night

Great moment for Joel Farabee, who fired three shots on goal in 14:35 of ice time during his NHL debut.

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